The film, supposedly based on a true story, follows a young performance artist, Qi Lei, who attempts to create a masterpiece based around the theme of death. After two "acts" where he simulates death, he decides that his final act will be a true suicide through hypothermia.
Frozen was originally entitled The Great Game (simplified Chinese: 大游戏; traditional Chinese: 大游戲; pinyin: Dà yóuxi). This was meant to reflect the attitude of both the film and the artist portrayed within it to treat death and suicide as a game or a manipulation.